Conveying apparatus for inspection stations



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 w. w. MICHAUX, JR

CONVEYING APPARATUS FOR INSPECTION STATIONS a a a" 1 mm m 9 In N 2 .n w V M R r; a m. m m 9 T w 6 A W M r m 6 9. L 3T u w m I v s w I 4 I 0 MT l a mm .w Q m 3 n 1 m 9 m 4 u 7/4 113 ma/www v' fluw M 2 A 5 5 w April l, 1950 Filed April a0. 1946 April 1950 w. w. MICHAU)-(, JR 2,504,565

CONVEYING APPARATUS FOR INSPECTION STATIONS Filed April 50. 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 5 WILUAMWMICHAUXJR.

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 18, 1950 CONVEYING APPARATUS FOR INSPECTIQN STATIONS William W. Michaux, Jr., Richmond, Va asslgnor', by direct and mesne assignments, of onehalf to Nancy Arthur Michaux and one-half to Elizabeth Newton Dew, both of Richmond, Va.

Application April 30, 1946, S.erial.No. 66,6,158

9 Claims.

This invention relates to dispensing machines and similar mechanism; and while it will be described in connection with the art of processing tobacco, it is of utility in, numerous other arts, as will be clear from the following description.

In processing tobacco, it is necessary to remove the unusable stern and larger vein portions of the leaves, foreign matter such as strings and feathers and damaged or off quality tobacco leaves after the tobacco is taken from the hogsheads. a machine known as a stemming machine. The leaves are fed into the machine which then grips the stems and strips the usable leaf portions therefrom. After leaving the stemming machine, the aforesaid leaf portions are deposited upon an open conveyor. Since the stemming machine cannot be relied upon fully and completely to remove all of the unusable stem and vein portions of the leaves, it is the usual procedure to employ inspectors or searchers. These searchers are psitioned by the conveyor, usually two or three on each side; and as the tobacco moves past them after leaving the stemmer, they pick out any stem pieces or larger vein portions, any foreign matter and any damaged, poor or off quality tobacco leaves, not previously removed by the machine. This searching or inspection raises the quality of the tobacco and enables the processor to command a higher price for his product than would otherwise be possible.

The foregoing procedure results in much duplication of searching and inspection and other useless effort on the part of the inspectors because each of them is responsible for the entire output of the stemmer. Furthermore, it frequently happens that there is confusion as to which individual will work over a certain part of the tobacco moving past them, with the result that it will be neglected by all and hence not properlyinspected and worked over.

My invention overcomes the foregoing difllculty in the following manner. The tobacco leaving the stemming machine, is delivered to an elevat-lug conveyor which carries it to. the top of the. machine forming my invention, where it is deposited in a. steady stream upon a dispensing" rotor- This. rotor is. formed with sector-1 shaped pockets about its periphery each of which is so formed that the tobacco falling into that packet will be deposited only in a corresponding one of a. number of chutes equal in number to thezpuclsets on. the rotor. Each chute. then leads o a respective inspection station at which. an

individual inspector is. located. As. a result, the.

The removal of' the stems is effected by tobacco proceeding from' the stemming machine is divided into two, three, four, or more parts The parts are equal and each is deposited before the inspector at a corresponding station in relatively small amounts and at uniform intervals of time. Thus each inspector is responsible only for that portion of the total output deposited before him; and he is enabled to work over his portionmuch more carefully than he. otherwise might do. Furthermore, there is. no possibility of some. portions of the tobacco passing to the packing room without inspection. As a result of my machine, a superior quality of tobacco is produced while at the same, time there is effected a large saving in cost of processing because, with the use of the present invention, four inspectors are enabled, to do the work formerly requiring six.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a dispensing machine operable to divide. a stream of material deposited thereon into a predetermined number of substantially equal amounts.

Another object is to provide. a machine. wherein the amounts so divided are directed to respective. stations for inspection, packaging or other processing.

A still further object is to provide a dispense ing machine as aforesaid, wherein the. dispensing rotor deposits the tobacco into a chute mechanism that deposits the. material being inspected. at an equal number of stations. on each side of he machine.

Another object is to provide a machine of the. aforesaid type, wherein. the tobacco is deposited on the dispensing and distributing rotor, divided into substantially equal portions, inspected, and then recombined or blended to produce a tobacco. of more uniform quality than has. heretofore been. possible exceptat added cost.

Other objects and advantages will become. apparent as the description proceeds.

In the drawing: 1

Fig.1 is a side elevation of a preferred form parts. being broken, away to more .clearlysh w details of construction.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view'ofi the dispensing roe tor, taken on a. plane perpendicular to its axis f rotation.

Fig. 3 is aperspective view of the machine illustrated in Pig; I viewed from the rear.

Fig. 4 is. a plan View of the inspecting table and the chutes. supported thereby.

connection therefrom Referring to Fig. l, the numeral I indicates generally a frame supported upon four legs such as 2 and 3. A pair of horizontal parallel side plates 4, Fig. l, and 5, Fig. 3, extend along and form a part of the frame with their upper coplanar edges several inches above the top pass of a belt conveyor 6. This conveyor passes over and about guide rollers I and 8, journaled in bearings carried by the aforesaid side plates; As

indicated at Fig. 1, roller 8 is adjustable toward and from roller I to vary the tension of the conveyor.

The top edges of plates 4 and 5 are rigidly connected by a number of struts or cross pieces such as 9 and 10. These plates, in conjunction with piece l5 which has been omitted in Fig. 4 for the sake of clarity.

. A dispensing rotor, generally identified by the numeral I6, is journaled for rotation upon a horizontal axis by bearings carried by standards i3 and I4. In the model illustrated, the rotor has an extreme radius of about 19", a width of 19 over all, and its axis is located approximately 64" from the floor. These values may, as a matter of course, vary over a very wide range depending.

upon the material handled, the location of the machine, and numerous other factors. The rotor will subsequently be described in detail.

From Fig. 3, it will be noted that the lowermost positions of the peripheries of the sides of the rotor are spaced a considerable distance above the common plane of floor sections H and i2. A partition I! has vertical sides secured centrally of supports l3 and M, as clearly shown upon Figs. 3 and 4. This partition rests upon floor sections I I and I2 and extends upwardly so that its upper edge is closely adjacent the peripheries of the circular sides of the rotor. The vertical edges of the partition abut the standards 13 and [4.

A pair of generally triangular side plates is and i 9 are fixed to the inner faces of the respective standards l3 and i4. From Figs. 1 and 3 it will be noted that the left side edges of the plates, as one faces the machine, make a smaller angle with the base edge than do the right side edges. viewed in Fig. 3, an inclined plate 20 has one square-cut end abutting against partition i1, its other end rounded as shown, its lower edge in contact with floor section II adjacent one edge of the latter, and-its upper edge contiguous to the lower edge of side plate i 9. The lower edge of plate 20 therefore substantially bisects the lower edge of partition H.

-A second inclined plate 21 has one edge overlapp n the right edge of plate l8 and forms a continuation of said edge. The other edge of plate 2| is cut to fit flush against plates l9 and 20-." A vertical filler piece 22 completes the chutes at the right of partition 11. The left side of the chute arrangement may, except for its reversed position, be identical in construction with the side just described, so that it is deemed sufficient to identify inclined plates 23 and 24 and filler piece 25,- Fig. -1. The outer end of plates 20 and 23, may be braced by a strip of channel bar such as 26 and 21 secured to the plates and extending At the right half of the machine as beneath and attached to floor sections i I and I2. respectively. To conflne'the material to the tables, the outer edges of each are provided with upstanding guards such as is indicated at 28, 28a and 28b, Fig. 3, for section II, and 29, 29a and 29!), Fig. l, for section l2.

The foregoing construction defines four general stations or locations at which material will be deposited. These stations are indicated generally by a, b, c and d, Fig. 4,. and the model illustrated is so arranged that substantially equal portions of the material to be inspected, are deposited in front of inspectors positioned, two at each side, each adjacent a respective station.

The dispensing or distributing rotor may be formed in any convenient manner from wood. sheet metal or light-metal castings. I have shown a rotor, found to be very satisfactory in actual use, comprising a metal axle 30 journaled at its ends in standards [3 and i4 and having a flanged coupling such as 3|, Fig. 2, secured to each end. Circular end disks 32 and 33 are secured, one to each coupling. These disks are connected by axially and radially extending plates 34, 35, 36 and 31 having their outer edgesparallel to axle 3B and terminating a short distance inside the periphery of the disks. The disks thus form four sector-shaped pockets, identified as a, b, c and d, Fig. 2. Pocket c issubstantially open and unobstructed except that, if desired, one or more strips such as 38 may beapplied to the leading face of the pocket to slightly retard the discharge of material therefrom. Pocket d has a floor or partition 39, parallel to axle 30 and having its ends abutting disks 32 and 33, as well as plates 34 and 35, in the position shown at Fig. 2 wherein the partition makes substantially equal angles with plates 34 and and is set back a few inches inside the outer edges of said plates. Filler strips 40 and 4| may be added as may be desired or found necessary. Pocket a. is partially closed by a main baflie 42 having its ends abutting the respective disks. This baiiie may conveniently have a flat inner face and an outer face formed as a portion of a cylinder coaxial of axle 30. The bafile abuts against the leading face of pocket a, that is, against plate 35, and in the model shown, extends over approximately one-half of the area of the pocket opening. The trailing edge of baiiie 42 carries an auxiliary baffle 43 extending angularly with relation to the inner face of the main baiiie.

Bafiie 43 preferably abuts disks 32 and 33 at its ends. Pocket b is partially closed by a baffle 44 which may have a flat inner face and outer surface formed like bafiie 42. Its leading edge abuts plate3'l and it is of a size to obstruct substanthe floor, forwardly of the machine and, if desired, may be the same motor that is used to drive the stemming machine used in cooperation with the machine being described. The shaft of motor 48 mounts a pair of small sprockets. A chain 49 passes around one sprocket, and connects the same with a large sprocket 50 fixed to shaft 41. A second sprocket 5|.is mounted on shaft 41 and a chain 52 connects this sprocket with sprocket 4.5 on. the shaft of rotor 1.6. A. third sprocket 53' is fixed on shaft 41 at. the.- projectingend thereofi. This sprocket carries a chain 54,. driving a smock-- et. 55 on the shaft 56 of conveyor roll 1:, previouslydescribed. The proportions are such that rotor 16, in the model shown is driven at about. 10 R. P. M.

The second sprocket upon the shaft of motor: 48; has a chain 5'! driving a. sprocket 58 mounted upon the shaft of the lower roll: of a. conveyor- 53. conveyor comprises a. pair of? side bars; one of which is identified at 60, Fig. 1;, connected at; their top ends; to the respective. standards I 3: and Ma. The upper passes the conveyor belt. passes: between. the bars 610. to an upper roll 6'' journaled in tighteners G2. The stemming machine includes a conveyor 53 positioned todeposit the stemmed tobacco on conveyor belt 59.

From Fig. 1, it will be noted that a flap 84 of flexible material is secured at its upper edge to a bar 65 supported at its ends uponstandards l3 and M. This flap has a width to fit with slight clearance between the disks 32 and 33 and has a length such that it contacts lightly the surfaces of baffles 42 and 44 as the rotor turns. The importance of this feature will be explained in the detailed operation following. A conveyor identified generally by the numeral 66, extends beneath the delivery end of conveyor 6 and operates to. convey the tobacco or other material to the packing room after it has been inspected and cleaned of unusable stem and vein portions.

Operation The stemming machine, not.- shown, and the dispensing and distributing machine forming: the subject of the present invention, areoperated simultaneously. The stemmed tobacco leaves ofi conveyor 53 and drop onto conveyor 59 whence they are. elevated to the top of rotor or wheel is and fall thereon in a steady stream. As. the rotor rotates, the material drops into the pockets 0., h, c, and d. Portions of the. material will, of course, fall upon the outer surfaces of baflles 42. and 44. These. portions are collected by flap 64 and, as the rotor turns,v are collected until they drop into the openings of the respective pockets. Thus, equal portions of tobacco are. deposited in each pocket.

The material, falling in pocket d. slides off. partition 3.9 a little prior to the. instant that. the plane of its. leading face, formed by. plate. 35,. aligns with inclined plate 24.. As a. result this. portion of the material is. deposited at. station d. Material fallin into. pocket c, is retained there.- in until the plane of its leading face, formed by plate 35, has just. passed. the plane of. plate 24. As a. result, this portion of the. material is deposited in the chute formed between plate 24. and partition I1, and is guided by the. inclined face of plate 23. to station 0. Material falling into pocket 22, is retained therein by baille. 44.

until the trailing edge of, said bafile has just passed. partition l1 so that this portion of material falls into the chute between said partition and. inclined plate 2! and is deflected byinclined plate. Ad to station. 12. Finally, material falling.

into pocket 11., is retained therein because of auxiliary baffle 43-, until. the trailing edge of said basic has passed the upper edge of. inclined plate.

5 t. Plate Zilthcn deflects this portion tostation: a. As; previously explained, because of the action: or flap 64, the portions. are substantially equal and each of four inspectors at stations rub; (a:

and L.- r sn c r y'. can. confine his attention to that portion of, material deposited before him.

The. inspector it pushes his inspected and cleaned tobacco to his right, off the end of floor section I222. Inspector c. pushesv his tobacco to his left andforwardly, after inspection of the same,- where it. fallso-ff the edge fi'l, Fig. 4, of floor :2. Inspector b moves his inspected portion to his left and forwardly, until it falls oft edge 6.8, Figs. 3 and 4. of floor section H. Inspector a, after inspecting his portion, pushes it off section ii? to his right. In all cases, the material drops onto: conveyor 6- from whence it passes to,- con-- veyor 56 and the packing room.

It will thus; be seen that I have provided. a highly useful machine that divides a quantity ot' material conveyedthereto, into. a number of equal portions, deposits the same at respective individual stations where, after treatment, the. portions.

may be recombined or kept separate, as desired.

While the machine shown divides the. material into four equal portions, other machines; em'.-- hodying the fundamental concept of my inventionmay be builtv to divide the material into. two or more portions, up to any number within pron-- tical limits. Furthermore, while the machine shown, for obvious reasons, divides the materiar equally, other machines may be built to divide: the material into portions having any desired ratio by weight or volume. This might be done, for example, merely bymaking, the peripheral. dimensions of the walls forming the pockets in. the ratio desired for any two portions, Thus, suppose that it were desired to have twice as.

, much material deposited at station c as at, station b, it would be necessary merely to alter-rotor- 6 so that the circumferential dimgnsionbetween. leading; and trailing walls of pocket c is twice. that of pocket b". Thus the number of portions, and theirrelation in terms of weight or volume, may be varied to suit any conditions of use, as might be the case, for example, where. different sizes or packages of a material are to be made up. Furthermore, in the case of tobacco, the separation and recombination of the. inspected tobacco, blends the same. and makes for a better and morev uniform quality of product.

Numerous alterations, substitutions of equivalents, and. modifications, will be obvious or occur to. those skilled in the art after a study of the. foregoing disclosure. For example, floor sections II and I2 may be rectangular with square corners at 28b and 29b, and with the projections forming edges or and 58 omitted. Also the chutes formed by plates I8, [8, 20, 2!, 214 and partition ll, may-be. formed to conduct the respective par tions to any desired locationsor stations. Therefore, I desire the foregoing disclosure to be taken in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense, reserving all? such changes as fall within the scope of the subj'oined claims Havingnow fully disclosed the invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a dispensing machine, a horizontal support having means defining four separatev deposit areas alignedin a horizontal direction, a rotor journaled in superposed position directly over said areas" for rotation about a horizontal axis at right angles to said first direction, said rotorhaving four circumferentially-spaced pockets cx.- tending about and opening only through the pe-- ri'phery thereof, each said pocket, when uppermustgreceiring material falling in a stream on. said'rotor, twov of said-pockets being constructed and arranged; to discharge material by gravity therefrom at different angles on one side of the Vertical plane through said rotor axis, the remaining two pockets being constructed and arranged to discharge material by gravity therefrom at different angles on the other side of the vertical plane through said axis, whereby the material from each pocket falls within a respective one or said areas.

- 2. A tobacco mixing and distributing machine comprising means forming a plurality of separate chutes having upwardly-facing openings in substantially -horizontal alignment in one direction, a rotor journaled in superposed position directly over said openings for rotation on an axis normal to said one direction, said rotor having'a number of circumferentially-spaced pockets about and opening only through the periphery thereof, each pocket, in succession, when uppermost; being adapted to receive tobacco falling therein by gravity, and so constructed and arranged as to direct the material at difierent" angles relative to a vertical plane through the axis of the rotor when falling therefrom by gravity, into a respective one only of said openings.

'3. In a tobacco dispensin machine, means defining a plurality of separate and distinct, contiguous tobacco-receiving areas aligned in a substantially' horizontal direction, a dispensing'rotor, means journaling said rotor centrally and directly over said areas for rotation about a horizo'ntal axis normal to said direction, said rotor comprising parallel axiallyspaced side plates and radial partitions defining with said plates a plurality of material receiving and dispensing compartments opening only through the periphcry of said rotor, conveyor means operable in timed relation with rotation of said rotor to discharge tobacco thereon in a continuous stream whereby tobacco falls into said compartments in succession as said rotor rotates, each said compartment being so constructed and arranged as to discharge its material by gravity at different angles relatively to a vertical plane through the axis or the rotor, directly onto a respective one only of said areas on continued rotation of said rotor.

4. A dispensin rotor comprising a pair of spaced disks rotatable on an axis, plates abutting said disks and extending radially of said axis to form with said disks a plurality of peripherally-opening, circumferentially-spaced compartments, each plate forming the leading face of one compartment and the trailin face of the next compartment, and baille means secured to the leading faces of two of said compartments and extending circumferentially therefrom in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said rotor to partially obstruct the peripheral opening thereof, said baffles being of different width circumferentially, whereby ma-- terial in each compartment is discharged therefrom by gravity on continued rotation of said rotor, only when its leading face is at an angle to the vertical plane through said axis difierent from the correspondin angle at which the other compartments discharge material therefrom.

5. A distributing rotor for a dispensing machine comprising a plurality of plates extending radially from a common axis, said plates being relatively angularly spaced and having their endedges in respective parallel planes, a pair ofnside disks secured to said endedges whereby to' form pockets generally sector-shape in cross section normally of said axis and equal in numpocket located-below the periphery thereof and forming substantially equal angles with the plates defining said pocket, to form a compartment generally segment-shape in cross section, a first baflle secured to the axially-extending edge of a plate defining the leading faced a second pocket and extending peripherally about the edges of said side disks for approximately one-half the angular extent of said second pocket, 9. sec ond baflle partially closing a third pocket in the same manner as said first baflle and havin its free edge'turned inwardly toward said aXis, the fourth pocket being substantially open and unobstructed, whereby material falling into each pocket will be discharged by gravity therefrom when, and only when, the plate formin the leading edge of said pocket is at a predetermined angle to the vertical different from that at which material will be discharged from each of the remaining pockets.

6. A dispensing rotor comprising a pair of spaced connected side disks rotatable on a central axis, means forming a plurality of angularly-related surfaces each extending radially and axially of said axis between said disks, each consecutive pair of surfaces forming a pocket for the reception of material falling onto said rotor, each pocket being so constructed and arranged that material deposited therein, will fall.

horizontal axis, said rotor comprising a pair of spaced parallel disks concentric of said rotor axis and connected by a plurality of plates extending radially and axially of said rotor axis to form with said disks a plurality of peripherally opening pockets, each plate forming the leading surface of one pocket and the trailing surface of a next succeeding pocket for one direction of rotation of said rotor, baffles abutting the trailing axial edges of at least some of said plates each partially obstructing the opening of a respective pocket whereby material falls by gravity from each pocket onto said table only when its leading surface is at an angle to the vertical different from the corresponding, surfaces of the other pockets whereby material is deposited by avity from each pocket at a location on said table different from the other pockets, and means rotating said rotor and driving said conveyor in timedmeans supported over said table-and defining a predetermlned'number of chutes arranged in a line each leading to a respective area 'on said table, a rotor superposed over said chutes and rotatable upon an axis substantially normal to said line, said rotor comprising end disks and plates abutting said disks and extending radially of said axis to form a plurality of peripherallyopening pockets, each having a leading and a 7 5 trailing surface for a predetermined direction otrotation of said rotor, each pocket being constructed and arranged to retain material deposited therein until its said leading surface makes a predetermined angle with a vertical plane through said axis, each said angle corresponding to a respective one of the entrance openings of said chutes, a second conveyor having its delivery end superposed over and adjacent said rotor, and power means driving said conveyors and rotor in timed relation.

9. In a dispensing machine, a supporting table, means carried by said table defining a plurality of chutes arranged in a line, each chute leading to a respective area on said table, a rotor superrotor, each pocket being constructed and arranged posed over said chutes and rotatable upon an 15 axis substantially normal to said line, said rotor comprising end disks and plates abutting said disks and extending radially of said axis to form a plurality of peripherally-opening pockets each having a leading surface and a trailing surface to retain material deposited therein, until its said leading surface makes a predetermined angle with the vertical plane through said axis, each said angie corresponding to a respective one of the entrance openings of said chute.

WILLIAM W. MICHAUX, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 851,554 Nims Apr. 23, 1907 1,178,674 Pletscher Apr. 11, 1916 1,890,740 Marasso Dec. 13, 1932 2,146,151 Marasso Feb. 7, 1939 2,326,005 Bradley Aug. 3, 1943 

